The trickster’s way into journalism

It seems that there is no fail-safe way of getting into journalism. Some will recommend courses, some will say that experience is all you need, some will wonder whether any of it is any use at all (e.g. my maglab colleague Lisa Blake). Some will get in by utilising something that’s never been done before.

Joanna Geary, Web Development Editor for The Times, came down to the journo centre recently and gave us a bit of an insight into how she got into journalism. It started off with the usual – pestering, rejection letters, some more pestering, some more rejection letters. Etc. But her key thing was that she started doing a lot of stuff with – you guessed it – blogs.

Now this isn’t going to be about the wonder that is the blog, because we all know how marvelous those online soap boxes are. The point is that she somehow cottoned on to something that was going to be big and used it to her advantage.

This has got me thinking. What’s new and unheard of out there in the world of online/social/networking/bookmarking/[insert buzzword here]?

Well, nobody really knows. I googled it and got a load of networking sites offering me the chance to “chat and flirt with sexy singles who want to be naughty tonight”.

The point is that there’s really little point in me listing the new kids on the block in online media because a) they’re already pretty popular, b) they haven’t made much of an impact or c) they don’t exist yet. Who knows where it’s all going?